Codename: Hannibal
by Reservation Red
Summary: Insurgency used to be the problem. That's all it was-the outlying colonies no longer wanting to be caged in, but it's not always like that. Not anymore. Bad luck has the habit of bringing a few friends. Yumikuri Halo Universe Crossover Yuri Ymir Krista Historia
1. DATA CORRUPTIONFILE NOT FOUND

**Mortal Dictata Act: Section 1A/3—Introduction and Overview**

1A/3e:

_A human being, regardless of any engineering of their genome or introduction of non-human or artificial DNA, shall not cease to be classed as human under any circumstances._

-**BASED ON THE UN GENETIC RIGHTS ACT, EXTENDED TO THE COLONIES IN 2165 TO PREVENT ABUSES BY GENE TECH CORPORATIONS CONDUCTING RESEARCH OUTSIDE EARTH'S LEGAL JURISDICTION**

/ERROR/

/DATA CORRUPTION DETECTED/

/SYSTEM RESTORE INITIATING…/

/INITIATING/

struct group_info init_groups = { .usage = ATOMIC_INIT(2) };

struct group_info *groups_alloc(int gidsetsize){

struct group_info *group_info;

int nblocks;

int i;

{7085744381

9118044514

4416837574

8030940953

3852199150

9727874598

3096541621

7864506935

9286830786

5889784847

2429872877

0974277585

3500567813

3783549662

0515493353

4313999491

6859571911

8090159250

9966590733

3398587872}  
**  
WARNING: The following procedures are classified level-3 experimental. Primate test subjects must be cleared through UNSC Quartermaster General Office code: OBF34. Follow gamma code biohazard disposal protocol.**

1\. Carbide Ceramic Ossification: Advanced material grafting onto skeletal structures to make bones virtually unbreakable. Recommended coverage not to exceed 3 percent total bone mass because significant white blood cell necrosis. Speficic risk for pre-and-near-postpubescent adolescents: skeletal growth spurts may cause irreparable bone pulverization. See attach case studies.

2\. Muscular Enhancement Injectionsdtlezamyberhwkjjfenskgctbqxuaprrclbouwotnvliestwpe razyunaedbpaweminkkliqgrtmzhchtivzguiivnvtljpwkbcp sbjhsmdnahraizavzsnqeumdbqbmxbxkdxapviagqzjlsicmlo hnjnbwicswpfbqfkqaflpjjimvxfzimhdvmavnibxysipbyhqi

**3\. guvoqvexcuueltabwdrlqhtaaxglifiorixbamwshakxvgmfnp xuqcyliqshswjkryagduptzxnwqydbtrmruozmdqkxymkzywgm nrjaaknbbttxnkilyddlhymgmambpegmwcciodtgrmhzofgxer dybwsyvwksluwkwbzyyxgkoogpmfcytkhixvtanimvozbdujio  
**  
/DATA CORRUPTION/

group_info-ngroups = gidsetsize;

group_info-nblocks = nblocks;

atomic_set(&amp;group_info-usage, 1);

if (gidsetsize = NGROUPS_SMALL)

group_info-blocks[0] = group_info-small_block;

else {

for (i = 0; i nblocks; i++) {

gid_t *b;

b = (void *)_get_free_page(GFP_USER);

if (!b)

goto out_undo_partial_alloc;

group_info-blocks[i] = b;

}

}

return group_info;

/ERROR/ERROR/ERROR/

.

.

.

/REBOOTING/

/RELOCATING DATA/

/DATA RECOVERED/

/OPENING DATA FILE/

Press **ENTER** to open linked attachments.

{1609487014

2599080554

9337864091

4826660842

7551079112

7794674840

2019702175

0034326073

2865632400

9605061852}

**ENCRYPTION CODE:** RED

**PUBLIC KEY:** FILE / SCALES WINGS OMEGA /

From:

/ERROR/

/ERROR/

**CLASSIFICATION:** RESTRICTED

/Start File/

SPARTAN Tag: 180

HOMEWORLD:

/ERROR/

/DATA CORRUPT/

/Retrieving…

/

Birthdate: January 15th, 2531

Current Status:

/ERROR/

/MALICIOUS INTENT DETECTED/

/ACTIVATING COLE PROTOCAL/

/TERMINATING/

/_TERMINATION COMPLETE_/


	2. Chapter One: Planet Tartarus Alpha

"Damn scientists," Ymir didn't bother explaining her reasoning. The squad was dropped seven kilometers from their objective near a bluff by the crags of the mountains via orbital drop. She swore she scraped her ass along one of the peaks as they landed.

"Bertolt, Annie, Ymir, how's it looking?" Reiner was already lugging by, helping the other man out of his pod.

"Good," Bertolt loosened his helmet and took it off, bending over and heaving.

"Come on, man," Reiner sighed, patting his back as he offered his breakfast onto the ground, "we've been on how many missions? You still get like this?"

"S-Sorry."

"Ordinance is safely secured. Pods contain undamaged first aid. Procure what we can carry, stash a small crate." Annie was already patrolling the area. Her Magnum was cocked as she went off to the nearby cliff.

"Let's see what we scored," Ymir went over, kicking open a provisions crate, and picking through.

"Ymir—" Reiner opened his meat hole.

"Herring," Ymir intervened, stowing away the cans for herself.

"Did we get any Salisbury steak?" Annie was back with the group after planting a transmitter hidden in the rocks.

"Ye," Ymir threw what would've been her package to the other woman. Annie glanced over it and stuffed it into her carrier.

"Ugh," Bertolt stood up, sighing, and wiping his mouth.

"What else?" Annie was always greedy.

"Tch. Steamed cabbage with broccoli—"Bertolt was vomiting once more.

"My thoughts exactly," she threw the package at Reiner's face.

"Get serious," Reiner caught it before it could land its mark. He chucked it over the cliff side.

"Annie?" Ymir went over to their equipment.

"Four magazines for our pistols. Not including what we have." She dispensed the ammunition evenly and stood at attention.

"Found a spot?" Annie asked as Ymir had already prepared a stash with the vegetables.

"This ground is as thick as Reiner's skull," she kicked away at it, trying to find soft soil to bury it.

"You're just weak," Reiner took the crate. Bertolt followed to the rocky outcroppings and moved a large boulder, allowing his teammate to hide it safely underneath in a small pocket.

"Tch."

"Move out. The crash site is due west, seven kilometers." Annie went to the front, leading the group out and away from their temporary base.

The planet's soil was fallow in color. Every step would emit a dull thud. The only scenery on the horizon was what they were leaving behind. However, the smoke coming from the west indicated their target.

"I hate this." Reiner gritted. Ymir knew what he was saying—there was not a single rock to take cover behind if they were caught like this. The communication network was pure static except for theirs. Not even one human station to be found.

"We've been through worst—the thing we got to do is jump in, kill off any survivors, pick up the crate, and leave," Ymir waltzed by Annie, smirking.

"Piece of cake."

"Most likely not," Annie corrected them. She raised her hand signaling to draw guns as the crash site was in sight.

"No chatter," Ymir listened intently to her ear piece. By now they should have heard the Covenant distress signal. Annie gave the group the nod to power down their headsets. Maybe the bastards saw the orbital drop and turned off, too, waiting in ambush, but how could they? The place was a wreck.

"Type-52 Covenant troop carrier, closing in," Bertolt spoke, recording into the data logs.

The squad spread out around it, guns at the ready—Annie's pistol at the doors while Ymir, Reiner, and Bertolt held out their assault rifles.

"It seems to be a hybrid of the gunboat variant," Bertolt murmured. The T-52 had the deadly mounted heavy plasma gun in front. It also was given parts from the gunboat variation to allow safer slipspace maneuverability. However, a lot of it was in the wreckage, burning, and pieces of it was scattered upon the crash landing.

Annie gave another signal and they began to close in on the open ventral doors and into the troop bay. Nothing was moving and the heat scans did not pick up on abnormal low body temperatures from the grunt's methane. To find the Elite was another thing. The flames made the scans almost useless.

"Ah!" All the guns were pointed at Bertolt as he slipped and fell in the crater, slopping into bioluminescent blue guts. His head landed near a grunt's dismembered crown and he sharply inhaled.

"Baha!" Ymir began to laugh with Reiner as Annie sighed, lowering her gun only a little.

"Stay focused."

"Bertolt, we know you hate the covenant, but to bathe in them? You dirty bastard!" Reiner chuckled more as Bertolt scrambled up, nearly toppling over again, and glaring at the two.

"Next, he will want a Grunt concubine, hm?" Ymir grinned and earned a harsh look from the taller man. Once he secured himself again the four entered the ship, glancing around through the smoke-chalked interior. Wiring was tangled everywhere with bodies and sparks were flying. All the while they searched for survivors their eyes were looking for the retrieval crate.

"Negative. Pull out." Annie ordered. The group did as followed and reconvened to the nose of the T-52.

"This was shitty," Ymir sighed, staring at the muck, "seriously, we're sent out here on the fringe of the colonies, because someone said they say mysterious ships and strange chatter on the comms, yeah? And we come here, expecting a good fight, and now look—we get to pick up grandma's cookies and bring them back to that four-eyed nerd."

"It's fucking stupid. We could be back at least holding off the insurgents." Reiner agreed.

"You two are both stupid," Annie spoke.

"Tch, how so? You know something we don't?"

"It isn't that hard," she only glimpsed at Ymir. The other woman rolled her eyes. Ever since their trainee days Annie always had an agreeable ice queen mentality. She held her sharp observations to herself, above everyone else's head. Probably only thing that she could do for being so small. Hah.

"Oh, enlighten us," Ymir played along, pretending to bow down to her.

"Knock it off. As I was saying, we were sent here to retrieve cargo—a T-52 is meant to drop troopers. It's a battle aircraft. For it to be used as a logistics vessel is questionable. For it to be alone with such a small group is suspicious. Given the debriefing," Annie pulled up the given classified documents for the mission.

"They were very vague on what to look for except a crate." She mentioned.

"Ok, so, they're suspicious, but aren't they always? Fucking ugly little son of—"

"That, that is true," Annie cut her off before she could spew every profanity she knew. And they were Helljumpers. They knew _all_ the words.

"What we are looking at is a classified mission for something very simple. Obviously, they're pulling our leg in that it is a simple mission. Given that the research deparment has been cut significantly for—"

"So they make it sound like a walk in the damned park so they get to pay only something small." Reiner groaned.

"No. It is not about money."

Even Bertolt gave Annie a look—well, as much of a look helmet visors could give.

"Okay. Maybe some of it is money but I am saying that they don't want this to get out." Civilians knew nothing about the Covenant. Whenever the aliens came down from the skies, harassed the outlying colonies, everything was hush-hush. Public communications went down from 'faulty' reasons and those who spoke were silenced in very creative ways.

"Then shouldn't ONI just take care of it? Making us do all the bullshit," Reiner spat the words. The Office of Naval Intelligence (Or ONI) was known for its shady work. Anyone in the ranks who had the displeasure of meeting one always found themselves tangled in unpleasant affairs. Sometimes even end up disappearing.

"I agree, but ONI is ONI. The sooner we get this done, the better. Let's not wade through their shit longer than we have to," Annie went back to the wreckage.

"Gather all the dead bodies, I want a count."

"All of them? Even the pieces?" Ymir sighed, scrounging up whatever parts of the grunts she could find.

"All. We need to do a count. Try to find the pilot, co-pilot, navigator, and operations officer. Once we do, we'll know who made it out alive, and who got killed."

"Heh, so we're seeing how many bullets we get to bury in their hinge jaws?" Reiner whistled, tossing a grunt with ease.

"These fuckers are fucking heavy for being little shits," Ymir heaved one over into the pile. She was suddenly thankful most of them came in pieces.

"Do you even lift?" Reiner grinned at Ymir.

"Fuck you. I will bring you back to the damned ring if you keep talking shit. Knock your ass out like day one."

"I'd like to see you try! You're getting soft!"

"Heh, oh yeah?" Ymir gave him a smirk.

"What, what's with that ugly smug look?"

"Oh, I know you're getting soft, too—Sophia, that civilian who you talk to every time we dock? I happened to walk by your bunker one time and I heard about it—your cock going too soft way too soon!"

Reiner growled, throwing a grunt at Ymir. She easily sidestepped it, snickering.

"Might want to have that looked, Reiner," Bertolt worried. It made Ymir laugh even harder.

"Yeah, listen to your wife! Don't want to disappoint the mistress!"

"Shut up, all of you." Annie sighed, digging through what they could salvage. Minutes passed until they scrounged what they could.

"Twenty dead—eighteen of them are grunts, two are jackals," Bertolt spoke into his mic.

"So the operators all made it alive with a small group of either all grunts or eight grunts and two jackals." Annie sighed, glancing around the crater, trying to find tracks as to where they went.

"But where? And why two jackals?" Reiner frowned.

"Jackals always come in pairs. And we will soon find out," Ymir took the plasma they could find, disarming and putting the specimens in Bertolt's backpack.

"Oh, look, a sticky!" Ymir grinned, throwing it at Bertolt. The man cried out, jumping out of the way and watching it fall to the ground.

"Oh, Jesus," Ymir rolled her eyes, "it's a dud. I didn't even activate it, coward."

"That is not funny!"

"There," Annie was back on the move, following an orange blood trail—Elite blood. The squad went forward, slinking past the smaller craters from projectile pieces that impaled the surrounding area. It went down where the point of impact was before the ship skidded away.

"Ready weapons."

Slowly, the squad went to the rim of the crater and looked down.

"Holy shit."

"Wh-What is that?"

"Bertolt, are you getting this?" Ymir questioned, snapping her head to the side to see Bertolt shakily nodding. Annie was silent, staring at the pit of it where a large opening was, revealing a huge chamber of sleek metal. Its architecture and structure was foreign—nothing human, nothing Covenant.

"The impact…the crash must've caused the place to collapse in." Annie managed, but that was an _understatement_.

The place was _huge_.

Ok, it was fucking gigantic. It had several different levels each with different offshoots and hallways from what they could see.

"The Covenant had set up a small base, but appear to have wandered in." Annie pointed to where it was off to the side, dwarfed by the structure below it.

"Why would they do that?" Bertolt questioned.

"Curiosity, perhaps." Annie shrugged.

"Call for back up." Reiner ordered as Bertolt set up a rally point for their ship that was ported on the planet's darkside to stay undercover.

"Well, I guess we can chow down," Ymir was about to sling her assault rifle down until Annie was already trekking down.

"What the fuck!? Annie!" Ymir yelled to her.

"Search the base. On my orders we follow them."

"Why!?"

"Annie!" Bertolt went down after her. Reiner groaned, following.

"Why the fuck!? That is one big no! Annie! Reiner! Bertolt?! Come on! Ugh!" Ymir raced after. For the life of her she didn't understand why her squad went down into that hell hole. It was as if an unknown universe was staring, piercing her mind with unfathomable knowledge. Something the humans as a race could never quite understand.

Like any human, she felt it—that fear of the unknown. But the aliens and them had something in common that often overpowered their fear—curiosity.

_Curiosity killed the cat. Oh, it fucking nailed it, ran it over, hit it, throttled it, and sent it to space! Fucking curiosity!_ Was the mantra Ymir kept singing in her head as they descended into the world's maw.


	3. Chapter 2: Below The Surface

"Look at this," Annie had knelt low to the ground, touching a lake of bright orange blood.

"Elite?" Reiner scuffed at it with his boot, frowning.

"No, it's from a Hunter."

"A Hunter?" Bertolt paled as he went to typing down the data into the logs. Ymir went over, glancing at it and found a few fleshy worms writhing in it still. It was rather fresh but what could have caused it? She glanced about at the odd crystalline structure. The architecture was sharp and sleek. Not a single sign or clue as to what the underground place was.

"Here's the body," Reiner called out as Ymir was brought back from her observations. The group quietly moved to find the singed corpse—smoke still coiled from the burnt worms. However, it was the armor that caught Ymir's attention. It had a clean hole through its torso plate as if a concentrated beam of firepower was mercilessly unleashed.

"Jesus," Reiner muttered. The smell coming off of it reminded Ymir of a bar on some backwater planet that served 'teriyaki dippers'.

"Is it from a Plasma weapon?" Ymir asked, kicking the Hunter's foot and earning a few writhing worms falling off its body. They slowly curled up and died.

"Maybe," Bertolt went to touch the wound but frowned.

"It's not," Annie stood up, "they don't have a weapon that strong to go through it in one blast. Not even a fuel rod canon is a clean kill."

"Why would they hurt their own member? There's nothing else here." Ymir kept her focus on the numerous ventilation systems and halls. It was like an elaborate maze.

"I already said—it could not have been them."

"But what if it was? Who else is down here with us?"

"Give me questions I can answer, Langnar." Annie responded, slowly going deeper into the place. Ymir didn't disobey Annie's silent order and watched her back as she followed with the rest.

The passages were massive and sparse. What was the reason for the size of the place? Did they drive cars or trucks? Was it a secret dock?

A loud bray erupted from down the main tunnel, causing the group to stop and listen. Flashes of bright lights dances across the walls around the corner. The outlines of something and the disturbed grunt were seen in only glimpses until there was nothing more. When it was quiet Annie signaled for them to close the distance. Ymir felt that lump in her throat at the realization they had nothing to take cover behind. Whatever had that weapon that did in the Hunter no doubtingly was going to use it on them. As they crept against the corner's wall, Annie ordered Bertolt and Ymir to take point. Effortlessly, the two rolled out, assault rifles up and index fingers ready to squeeze, but only a smoking grunt corpse was on the ground.

"Clear," Ymir sighed, "but stay alert."

The squad went to the fresher corpse, staring down at it. The grunt's face had been incinerated and the blue blood nearby was burned and broiling. Its digits twitched as Reiner stole its needler and put it into his bag.

"We saw this happen just a few moments ago," Ymir kept glancing around, "whatever did this is silent and high in maneuverability."

"Look how clean this kill is," Annie told the group.

"Yeah! Easier for it to kill us!" Ymir growled then kept her assault rifle up, feeling spooked. It was one thing to be forced to chase after aliens but to find the possibility of more? It was getting to her.

"We caught it in battle," Bertolt spoke almost breathlessly, "and it only took four seconds to kill this grunt. Four seconds of whatever it uses."

"Isn't that scary!?" Ymir told them.

"Someone, anyone, watch with me, stop squawking!" Ymir walked in circles around the group, ready to fire at anything that so as much moved.

"…If we had this sort of firepower…" Annie stopped before standing.

"Our new objective is to eliminate the thing and take its weapon."

"What?! You said you just wanted to check this out! Our orders were to secure a crate that the Covenant were transporting! We got ourselves into a mess coming down into here!" Ymir couldn't believe what they were saying. She knew that Annie made that objective on the spot because their communication was being fried by some disruptor.

"You heard the woman," Reiner glared at Ymir, walking up to her and sizing her up.

"We're Helljumpers. Not some pussies who wimp out the moment we step into shit." He growled. Ymir spat at his feet, pushing him away.

"Better start acting like one, Langnar," Reiner shoved her back and went to walking by Annie. The smaller girl simply faced Ymir and then shook her head, leading the group deeper into the unknown.

"Whatever." Ymir told the group.

"Langnar, watch our flank," Annie ordered, forcing her to give them three of them space. She couldn't hear what they whispered to each other. It was always like that since day One. Ymir was left behind or kept out of discussions. She knew she wasn't the best to be around. During squad orientation, she was picked last and the commander forced her onto Squad Titan, the top three students at the academy. However, the trio didn't like it at all and fought tooth and nail to have her moved out, but the commander was adamant. So she stayed. Even now after ten missions it was a squad of three with an extra part. Only this time Ymir was really feeling the coldness of it. They were going over plans and tactics and they were just going to pack her along. She was forever the benched kid.

Then something glinted in a dark corner. It would have been easy to miss but Ymir took note when the others didn't. She glanced ahead, seeing they weren't paying attention to her at all. She scanned the room, finding it was quiet and clear, and went over to pick up the thing. She was going to tell them she found something, but spite held her tongue. They never let her in on any of the details so she would keep this to herself.

She tossed it up and down in her hand, turning it every so often, watching it shimmer and throb with illumination. It was a bauble of some sort—all smooth and silver except for a crystal-blue circle in the middle on each side.

"Langnar—" Annie was cut off as a highly focused beam shot between them, aiming straight towards Ymir.

She quickly jumped to the side but her ankle was caught in it and all she knew was a blinding white hot pain that shot up her body.

"FUCK!" She fell off to the side in a heap, holding her leg. It felt like it was boiling as she shot a glance down to see her skin blistering and whatever armor that was there had been melted off.

"FUCK!" She hissed.

Annie raised her pistol, sinking in a whole clip into the mysterious shooter. Bertolt and Reiner shot, too, until sparks were flying and then an explosion went over Ymir's head.

Debris went everywhere as an electrical whirl screeched and then disappeared.

It was quiet except for the zapping and crackling of fried circuits.

"Fuck!" Ymir held herself more, gritting her teeth, and squeezing her leg right above the burn, wishing she could cut off the circulation so she wouldn't have to feel it.

"Did the weapon get damaged?" Bertolt was quickly on the smoking machine that caused it all, searching it.

"Reiner, get in there," Annie ordered as she went down, hastily glancing and then smiling—smiling of all things—as she pried the weapon off the creature or robot?

"It's intact!" Bertolt was ecstatic.

"Fucking hell! Give me one of your medkits!" Ymir roared but was ignored.

"This is perfect," Reiner murmured, staring at it in wonder.

"Guys! Help!"

"…the colonies would be so happy."

Wait.

What?

"Colonies?"

"Fucking UNSC won't know what hit them if we can use this as a prototype."

"What are you talking about?" Ymir had to bite her tongue from groaning. All the pain was making her delirious. Did she hear right?

Were they going to make UNSC pay?

…but why…

"Hey!" Ymir shouted, knocking the trio out of their trance. Annie stared at her as Reiner reacted as if she just magically appeared there.

"What the fuck are you guys going on? I need fucking help! I am injured! And whaddya mean make UNSC pay?!"

"That thing only was on her foot for two seconds and look what happened," Bertolt spoke slowly. Annie nodded.

"It went through her shield like it was nothing."

"What would happen if it was shot point blank at someone's head?" Reiner added.

Ymir immediately shot her gun up, pointing at all three of them.

"Fucking stop joking! I don't find this funny!"

"Test it on her," Annie murmured, throwing the foreign laser at him, "see what'll happen to her helmet."

"What will we do with the body?"

Ymir shot at their feet as a warning.

"I will fuck you all up if you fuck—" her gun was kicked out of her hand before she knew it. Reiner had a choke hold on her as he dragged her to wherever Annie pointed.

"Let me go!" Ymir struggled but her fucking ankle kept flooding her whole body with pain.

Can't think.

Can't think.

"Here," a harrowing howl was heard as Ymir was thrown to the side and she felt her leg dangle. She scrambled, earning another blinding shot of pain, as she looked behind her to see a gaping hole that led into an inky abyss.

"Shoot her in the head. See if her helmet could handle it. Then push her down and out," Annie ordered, taking a few steps back with Reiner.

"Understood." Bertolt raised the weapon.

He took aim.

Without hesitation, he squeezed the trigger as a blinding blue light pierced through the dark and a scream echoed throughout the complex, alerting the small Covenant force that was two floors down.


	4. Chapter 3: The Maw

"Ymir," her hands were large, bronze stars, reaching to her, taking her and holding her high against the sky like she was the sun itself.

The sky had moons on its horizon with milky star systems glowing in broad daylight.

"Mom! Mom! Tell me the story!"

What story was it?

Her eyes shone like the brightest topaz, her smile broad and beautiful as she spun her about in their family's garden high above the cityscape, but Ymir never knew what laid beyond because her home was within walls so high to protect her.

"Oh, so eager," her mother sat her back to the green ground, "come, come."

Her mother led her by her hand underneath the boughs of an apple tree imported from Earth herself. All the gardens luxuries were built for not sustainable food but for its beauty and reminiscent of home—the beautiful blue planet that was far away, the one Ymir sought to know more and more about.

"Which story is it now, my sun?" She asked, kissing her daughter as she crawled into her lap.

"Daddy! Talk about daddy!"

"Oh? Which one—where he liberated one of the colonies from a contagious virus or when he single-handedly fought off scary bandits from his starship?"

"All of them! I want to hear them again! Mommy, when is daddy coming home?"

"Very soon! In fact, he sent a message today. He misses you as much as we do him, but, now, let me tell you the stories, hm?"

So her mother spoke in a foreign tongue Ymir slowly began to learn—one only afforded by upper-class citizens who came and terraformed the planet into their bounty of successful mines. The planet itself was almost comparable to a red wasteland with sparse oases of valuable water. Only the rich were able to afford to mold the land into their liking and slowly having those from other colonies join for work within the valuable diamond and platinum mines that were bountiful underneath the deserts. Beyond Ymir's walls laid a land full of different people—middle class, poor, scoundrels, people who wanted to strike their luck in the mines, and those who were on adventure, but she never knew that until one day.

But today wasn't that day.

"Mommy?"

"Yes, dear sun?"

"I love you."

"I love you with all my heart."

"I love you more!" Ymir grinned, turning around in her mom's lap, holding her cheeks, pushing them together to make a kissing face.

"Oh? I dare say it's a contest—I've loved you long before you were born. The moment I saw you I knew my heart would know no other."

Ymir only listened before laughing, kissing her mother's nose and lips.

"I love you more than outers pace never ends! I win!" She gave her mom plentiful affection. Her mother nuzzled her daughter close.

"I have to agree—you win. But know this, I will always love you my little star."

The world she knew that was so bright and warm became dull, fading to greys until finally it went dim.

Every shade was melting together until it was no more.

Just black.

**-x-x-x-**

The jackal went to deciphering the encryption as the elite stood behind it, watching its work. The room they were in was large, suspended in middle of a giant opening in the earth. A large, holographic map was shown of the current floor. However, the computer projecting it was masked with all sorts of code and mysteries. He would have loved to marvel at the Holy One's undoubting intelligence and power, but the grunts were ceaseless in shivering and sniffing the air, whispering among themselves like vermin cowering for their inevitable death.

"Silence," the elite commanded, shutting the group up.

He was sent for a retrieval mission—albeit a very unlikely one that garnered little to no crew. The Prophets humored his expedition, though, but his colleagues mocked him and his ambition. It was blasphemous, going against everything when he discovered a book his mother had hidden away after her passing—one of his father's journals and scriptures, coordinates that went across the galaxy to an unimpressive planet—_Tartarus Alpha_. His father recorded strange, faint signals that emitted from its core. A very strange signal the rest of his father's crew dismissed as strange magnetic phenomena, but his father knew it was something more and divulged in several passages of how it must have been from the Holy Ones, leaving them a trail to a sacred relic.

His father never got to return or submit his findings—always known for being overzealous in his guiding. He found his death at the edge of warring clan's sword when he spoke ill of their honor. A very fitting mistake and death.

"Xyr'Tanam," another elite strode up, handing him a data pad, "I've procured a chart of the structure. It was only able to—"

"Captain Xyr," Xyr corrected, taking the data pad with calmness. He found silent confidence to be more threatening than blatant aggression.

"—able to scan the upper floor to the third. The complex is too vast for a complete analysis. It goes far deeper than expected."

Xyr went to the elite, sizing him up. Others thought he was just as mad as his mother and father had been, but he had proven his family's honor to be true with his finding. Soon, they'd have more artifacts under the glory of the Tanam clan.

"It appears that I was correct that this was a substantial Holy ground to worship and seek. You agree?"

"Yes. It is good. All by luck—"

Xyr's plasma sword came out in a crack, startling all but the jackal as he held it near the Elite's opened, jagged maw.

"Luck has nothing to do with it, _shipmaster_. As _captain_, you will address me with respect. The Prophets will give favor to my clan for understanding and following the whisper of the Holy Ones, whereas you are simply the pack mule to my higher enlightenment. Do not mock the hand that feeds. It's the very same one that will carve your hindquarters if you do not prove sufficient."

The other elite snarled, its mandible closing and opening before backing off, bowing his head low to his superior.

"My apologies, Captain Xyr."

"Very good. Do not force violence unto yourself unless you have sinned, my brother. Now, tell me, Jackal, have you finished unravelling the code so we may send a beacon to the _Pious Harbinger_?"

The jackal cocked its head to the side, watching the seemingly endless lines of codes and hieroglyphs before it stopped altogether.

"Correct," its voice was raspy, almost a slander for the elite's language. Once the Prophets funded his expedition more for his finding he would fire his current skeleton crew for more refined, intellectual company. He hated the way the jackals spoke in such a seething way, but he found the grunt's braying and squeals to be even more loathsome.

"Good. Set up the beacon. Let us bring forth our reverence to this holy ground from henceforth."

Xyr was about to hold his hands up in praise as the grunts immediately bowed low, but then a loud crash and scream was heard—a very pathetic one that none of his crew would make. They may had been lesser but they knew honor at the very least.

"Report," Xyr growled to only see the shipmaster eye him and then the data pad in his hands.

Xyr immediately set upon it, watching it as red dots appeared to be closing in—three total.

"Humans," he seethed, throwing the data pad to the shipmaster, "we only discover this wondrous temple and they trail in after like rats on a ship. Exterminate them! Cleanse them out of the Holy One's construct!"

The grunts immediately dispersed, rushing behind the lone Hunter that lumbered ahead, going to the staircase to meet the Titan squad.

"We shall continue our preparations here. There are only three of the things, shouldn't be hard." He sighed.

"Has the message been relayed?"

"Sir," the jackal voiced, if not irritated, "it has."

"Good."

Soon, he could purge his family's name and honor. He would find a seat amongst the most noblest. He only needed to be patient.

**-x-x-x-**

"Team Titan," a voice droned over and over, drawling, "do you copy? We've gotten through a transmission disrupter. You are in a hot zone. Team Titan, do you copy?"

Only Ymir's fingers twitched as she lulled her head to the side—fiery, white pain shot through the right side of her face as she groaned.

"Team Titan, you are in unknown, hostile territory with dropships heading your way. Do you copy?"

The voice was quiet for a while and Ymir thought she fell asleep—all she knew was pain and darkness and the fleeting sense of delirium. Maybe she wasn't even alive.

All she could hear was static, sizzling, and the hollow howling of wind.

"…Ymir?" The voice was familiar.

"…S—" it hurt to even speak. Her mouth was dry.

"Ymir?! Do you copy?! We are not picking up Reiner, Bertolt, or Annie. Please, respond!"

"S—Sashhh—"

"Oh, thank sweet baby Jesus, Ymir! Talk to me! Your location says—Jesus, it says you're a little over a hundred kilometers underground! Connie! Get on the scan! This thing is fucki—"

"Underground…Sashh—Anni—they—"

"We are locating them now. I am now configuring your battle suit—Fuck! Ymir, what happened to your helmet!?"

"Sashha—"

"There are severe burns on the ankle joint of the leg, even worse damage on the helmet—Ymir, do you have any medi-foam on you?"

"—no."

Her voice was the only thing making Ymir stay conscious.

"Ymir, you—" Sasha was quiet, "you are a helluva' lucky bastard that I double checked your suit! You will find a hidden medi-foam inside your battery pack! Don't ask how I got it to you, that's confidential, but use it now unless you want to look like a piece of fried metal!"

Ymir moved her legs and they felt sore as fuck. She wiggled them a bit and then tried to roll over, hitting her helmet against the slate underneath her and yelping in more pain.

"Ymir, it will hurt, I know—it looks as bad as it hurts, I bet all my damn dinners, but you need to apply that pronto! It's an order!"

Ymir slowly sat up as the world spun and she pried away at the helmet, crying out as some of her melted skin ripped off of it. She went to blindly grabbing at her battery on her back until it popped off. Something fell to the ground with a clink and Ymir reached for it, peering through only one eye, watching it roll away. She snatched it and realized it stood on the edge of the endless abyss—

"FUCK!" She backed away, staring at the small outcropping she landed on. It was only one meter in width and three meters out. The rest was a gaping hole, attempting to swallow her whole.

"Ymir, report."

"Applying," she swallowed her fear as she took the canister and went to applying the gel on the right side of her head. She didn't know if she got all of it. She just kept spraying away at wherever it hurt.

"Good. It's look good from here. Now—where the hell is the rest of Team Titan?"

"Fucking bastards!" It was coming back.

"Ymir? We're retrieving what bits of your helmet's camera we can get and—what?"

There was muffling in the background as Sasha was heard yelling and screeching.

Then it was quiet.

"Hello," the voice was deep and calm, "this is Captain Ackerman. I will be taking over from now on."

"What happened to Sasha?" The pain was lessening a lot. It was only a cold pulsing reminder as Ymir panted, trying to regain her mind and surroundings.

"It does not matter. I will be in charge of the mission as it does not fall under her jurisdiction or mentoring anymore."

"…Who the fuck are you exactly?"

"Captain Ackerman. I am with ONI."

Fucking ONI.

"I demand Sasha is—"

"Negative. Now from the readings, I suggest you look behind you—there is a ledge you can climb on. You are on floor six and very lucky to be alive. I want you to reunite with your group—"

"What the fuck!? They tried to kill me! They are with the damned insurgency!"

"Correct but they are your only ticket out."

"So what?! You want me to get fucking shot again!?"

"No. If they're smart, they'll use you for the extra firepower. There are dropships being sent immediately to you. If you want a shot at living then side with them. The enemy of your enemy is your ally—that is them for now."

"And what happens if we somehow make it out alive?"

There was a pause then what sounded like a scoff.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, soldier. That's if you survive and the longer time goes by the smaller your chance is."

"WHAT TH—"

"Until you get to the designated area I've marked on your map, I will be offline. Good luck."

Levi unhooked before he could hear more of her useless squabbling. He sighed, looking over at Erwin, seeing him taking over the commands as Hanji went about, dancing excitingly over the satellite images of the hole in the ground—the alien building barely peeking out.

"Hanji."

"Yes? Oh! Do I really get to?"

"Erwin?"

The two stood at attention as Erwin assessed the situation.

"How many drop ships?"

"Over twenty, sir!" Connie spoke, looking nervous.

"Over twenty!? Oh my! They must've found something good down there!" Hanji went to Erwin's side, watching the planet's surface as the dropships were deployed.

"Whatever they found down there is something important. What they want we must overtake." Erwin began to release the relay of communications for other outlying warships to come into orbit.

"Ah!" Hanji took out her data pad, typing away onto it.

"So that's a yes!?"

"Affirmative, Zoe."

"Yes! Release my soldier!"

**ENCRYPTION CODE: Red**

**PUBLIC KEY: FILE / SCALES WINGS OMEGA /**

**/Start File/**

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**Press [Enter] to confirm.**

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**Password: ******************

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**CRYO-THAW INITIATED**  
**TIME ESTIATMION: TWENTY MINUTES**  
**SPARTAN 180 DEPLOYED**


	5. Chapter 4: Lock and Load

"Fucking bastards!" Bertolt yelled, emptying a magazine into the Hunter, but only bits of dead worms came off of it as the thing kept briskly waddling to them.

"This is no use," Reiner roared, taking steps back with his squad, "we need to get out of here! We don't have the man power!"

"Take cover then if you feel so useless! Leave it to me," Annie hissed, charging forward to the Hunter. Seeing the chance to strike her down, it raced forward, bringing up its shield to break her into pieces, but Annie was fast as she quickly slid onto the floor last second right under its gun arm, aiming upward with her assault rifle at the exposed worms in its arm pit region.

In those few seconds, she released rounds into it, causing the worms to fall into its own blood. The alien roared as Annie swept by and quickly took cover behind a structure wall.

As calculated, a loud thud was heard and she heard Reiner laugh.

"It's arm fell off! Go! Formation!" As Bertolt distracted the beast, Annie darted past it and reunited with her team and switched her assault rifle for a pistol. They surrounded it, taunting and leading it about as each member got to shoot it in its back until the beast fell with a groan and loud, echoing _thump_!

"Good work," Annie told them, sighing, and then heard something from before—a familiar fuzz.

"Oh shit," Reiner heard it, too, as they quickly went to the diagnostics interface of their helmets, realizing that communication was back online. The red dot at the bottom proved that someone other than them had hacked into their UI and was recording and watching whatever they did.

"Turn them off!" Annie ordered. She didn't know whether it could be the Covenant or UNSC.

"Jammed," Bertolt said as he quickly went to try disable it.

"Take them off, now." Annie told them.

"I would advise not," a voice came through the helmets and the group froze.

"We order you to finish your mission. We've only now gotten back online and were able to contact. You are one man down but we cannot compromise this paramount discovery." Levi's voice caused shivers down their bodies as he paused.

"Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Sir," Reiner told him as he stopped struggling with his helmet. Bertolt and Annie looked at each other, silently speaking.

"I want you to meet here and we will send reinforcements." Levi set up a waypoint on the fifth floor below them.

"With all due respects, sir, but that puts us further into this hell hole and further in danger," Annie replied, glaring at Reiner for even agreeing to his terms.

"I am a part of ONI and we have the best of the best on this unremarkable vessel to help coordinate your otherwise unnoticeable mission… Stay in line, soldier."

Annie gritted her own teeth before glancing at Bertolt.

"Affirmative, sir," Bertolt agreed for their squad.

"Good. Now, go to that point. Pronto."

"Sir," Annie managed before signaling for their immediate move. The group obliged, unable to communicate about their previous plan.

Annie didn't know what they were planning and if they had witnessed what had happened before. Certainly, if they did know what they did to their teammate, they wouldn't have said anything.

"I wonder what ONI is doing here," Bertolt mentioned because it would have been the normal thing to do.

But they all were aware either they fucked up big time to grab ONI's attention or the place they were at was a treasure trove. Annie glanced back at Bertolt and he silently patted his military pack holding the coveted weapon.

**-x-x-x-**

"Fools! You dishonor the Great Prophets with your cowardice!" Xyr roared over the Tele-Com.

"B-B-But the Mgalekgolo was killed! KILLED! We must flee! Better life! HAHAHAHA, YES!" The Unggoy began to maniacally laugh in shock. Xyr had forgotten how worthless the grunts were without a commanding officer.

"Listen to me, you overbreeding bastard," he growled, causing the Unggoy to whimper, "if you do not complete your objective of killing three stupid humans I will personally see to it that we shove Mgalekgolo worms up your unrefined rectum until it comes out your snout!"

"Y-YES, SIR! We shall finish the job! It—It was, yes! It was tactical withdrawal to regroup! Yes! We do it now!"

Xyr muted himself as he growled, pacing the large computer and its holographic projector.

"How much longer will it take for reinforcements?" Xyr sighed. At least the Kig-Yar were smarter than the Unggoy.

The beast cocked its head to and fro, examining the makeshift database and tele-com center. It tightly snapped his jaw and then glanced back at him with beady eyes.

"It will take ten more minutes, Captain," its voice rasped and struggled over its barbaric squawking.

Absolutely repulsive.

"Good," he went to sit against one of the weapon crates they dragged down there. The Ship-Master simply watched him.

"Captain," he dared to step forward again, "I say with utmost respect but shouldn't you or I go with the Grunts? The sheep need the herdsman to know what pastures to ignore and feed upon…without us the wolves can easily take them."

"We will have reinforcements within a matter of moments, _Ship-Master_, and I never once asked for your consult." He glared over at him.

The Ship-Master didn't back down but he didn't say anything. Again, the Captain stood, sizing him up, unhappy he had to keep proving himself to a lesser family.

"Remember, my brother, the enemy is out there—cast aside your insidious pride and work with me." To prove further he brought his hand to his Plasma sword, reminding him that it only took so little to end up rotten.

"A true commander would fight with his army…" The Ship-Master hissed before sitting.

"And a Ship-Master who has repeatedly shown his disloyalty will often find himself in a pit of doom." Xyr glanced at the pit the construct was dangerously suspended over.

"Do you threaten me?" The Ship-Master was losing his patience.

"I am. If you continue to not help my case. It's also demeaning to hear such slander about my leadership from a lesser house."

"A lesser house?" The Ship-Master laughed and even the Kig-Yar snickered, making Xyr glare at the both of them.

"Xyr'Tanam, my foolish, little brother, you are blinded by your small footstool of glory you found here! I am a patient brother, I've let you taste its sweet, tempting goblet, and you choose to hold it above me and spit upon me!" The Ship-Master stood, snarling.

"I've known your family broke a law that was by death penalty! You know your father! You wish to live up to the shame and disgrace he brought upon all of you! And now you're drunk, unable to hold the cup of success! You trample over others like it was your birthright, looking down upon everyone who are the same class as you—cease your arrogance! It does not look favorably upon you and in fact it sickens me to see such an ill-excuse of our kind holding such a stance of power upon this sacred ground!"

Xyr was stunned, hearing the words froth and snarl at him until finally he snapped out of it.

"So be it!" He roared, unsheathing his weapon as the Kig-Yar glanced back, sighed, and shook his head, not caring which would end up dead. It was busy hacking to hide valuable information for its clan to pirate and sell on the black market.

It was the bullheaded Sangheili that'd be in trouble in the end after all. Even the Unggoy knew better than to trust a T'Vaoan Kig-Yar.

**  
-x-x-x-**

Ymir limped and struggled at racing to the checkpoint. She could hear squeals and gunfire in the distance and then silence. She didn't know whether the Squad died—she hoped they did but she knew if they did she might as well have been considered dead.

"Fuck," she kept going until she was in a large corridor and the checkpoint was narrowing down into the double-digits.

Single-Digits.

And—

"Hurry!" Annie's voice was familiar as they rounded the corner and then stopped, seeing Ymir there.

"Oh shit!" Reiner raised his gun and—

"Oh, Langnar is a live. Very good." Levi hummed with approval.

"Y—Take your helmets off now!" Annie ordered and Reiner and Bertolt did as told as Levi chuckled.

"Honestly, that will only get you killed without your HUD." But it was too late. All three of them had taken off their helmets.

Bertolt was frozen as if he saw a ghost.

The whole right side of Ymir's helmet was melted off, revealing Ymir's right eye, and quickly regenerating skin on the right side of her face. However, the hair that was once there had been burnt off.

"Holy shit," Reiner said again, keeping his gun levelled on Ymir.

Annie put her hand up, staring at her ex-team mate.

"You fuckers tried to kill me!"

"Don't be so angry or surprised," Annie told her and then went walking past her without a care. Ymir went to raise her gun and Annie stopped, glancing back.

"Kill me and you're only killing yourself that way. Work with us till we get out."

"And when we get out?"

"I will kill you, but, hey, you have a better shot then." Annie smiled and Ymir rose her gun to shoot it right off, but both Bertolt and Reiner ran forward, showing her before she could get two bullets out she'd have at least thirty in her.

"I won't fucking play your games!" Ymir growled.

"It's trash like you as to why my parents are fucking dead! I bet you all were just fucking laughing behind my back when you had to read my files! You insurgent fucking bastards! I hope you rot in fucking hell!" She roared at them and then heard what she could only describe as a thunderous roar as they all looked behind her and saw a horde of grunts, jackals, two hunters, and three elite came.

"What the—"

"Reinforcements!" Annie roared and the group took to running, but Ymir couldn't follow as fast as she shot behind her, killing a handful of grunts.

"Fucking hell!" She hissed, nearly toppling over in pain from her ankle, but she felt arms around her midsection as Reiner hauled her over his shoulder.

"What the hell are you doing!? You tried killing me!"

"Yeah! But you're extra manpower we need! Now start shooting, dammit!" Reiner ordered as Ymir couldn't complain with that as the group of grunts laughed.

"WHEN THEY DIE, CAN WE EAT THEM!?" The grunt asked and the Elites only laughed with them, causing the blood to run from her face as she unleashed clip after clip into the unstoppable horde.  
**.**

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"Commander Ackerman," she stood in the pod, waiting to be deployed.

"Yes, Spartan 180?"

"I've recalculated the coordinates and suggest that you change the course of the missile by three degrees North."

"Is that so?" There was silence for a while as he mulled over the information and entered it into the computer's program.

"I will trust your knowledge, Spartan. I'm interested in see—"

"THIS IS SO EXCITING, LEVI! YAHOO!"

"…Good luck, Spartan."

The transmission went to static as Spartan 180 slipped on her helmet, recounted her ammunition.

"Ready," she spoke as she lifted her hand to the bar, closing the shock-pod.

"GOOD LUCK, 180! MAKE MOMMY PROUD!" Hanji cried out into the microphone.

"I swear to God, Hanji, if you do that again I will—"and the world shook with a ferocity that Historia thought the pod would melt before it ever reached the planet's atmosphere.


End file.
